Hunter Biden’s nascent art career is again at the center of lawmakers’ attention as the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability continues its investigation into the president’s family.
Yesterday, the committee’s chairman, Republican representative James Comer of Kentucky, sent a letter to Biden’s New York art dealer, Georges Bergès, demanding information about the artist’s sales.
“Your arrangement with Hunter Biden raises serious ethics concerns and calls into question whether the Biden family is again selling access and influence,” Comer said in the missive. “Despite being a novice artist, Hunter Biden received exorbitant amounts of money selling his artwork, the buyers’ identities remain unknown, and you appear to be the sole record keeper of these lucrative transactions.”
Comer cited recent articles around Biden’s December show at Bergès’s gallery, wherein the dealer said that prices for the artist’s work ranged from $55,000 to $225,000.
“It is concerning that President Biden’s son is the recipient of anonymous, high-dollar transactions—potentially from foreign buyers—with no accountability or oversight (other than you),” the letter went on. “The American people deserve transparency regarding certain details about Hunter Biden’s expensive art transactions.”
Who’s buying Hunter Biden’s art?
@RepJamesComer is calling on Georges Bergès to provide information about Hunter’s secret art sales.Americans need answers and transparency.https://t.co/mvsbcOkpvK
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) January 25, 2023
Comer claimed that the committee previously requested information from the gallery and that Bergès “did not respond to these requests.”
Now the congressman is urging Bergès to sit for a transcribed interview with the committee and has asked that he provide a series of documents, including contracts and sales figures; the ethics guidelines around Biden’s work that the dealer reportedly established with the White House in 2021; and all communications between the gallery, Hunter Biden, and Joe Biden’s office.
Bergès did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Comer isn’t the only one seeking profit figures from the gallerist and his headline-grabbing artist. According to court documents, Biden’s former girlfriend Lunden Roberts has asked for “detailed information” about his art sales as part of an ongoing battle over child support payments.
